Free Nation
History, ---- A large majority of free nation inhabitants descends from a group of ex slaves, freed by Hensen, god of Change, from the clutches of the beholder race and magically transported to the newly risen Blood Myst islands. The crafty ex slaves swiftly adapted to the environment of the Island and begin building a new civilization, as their homeland have a vast amount of Bloodstone infused in the land and vegetation the Freemen begin to be effected by mutations and acquire a natural knack for magic. The Priesthood of change took de facto control of the nation few year after the first priest contacted Hensen and become able to shape and guide the flows of mutation into their people, in order to make them as asset for the Free Nation. With the priesthood giving strong incentives to innovation and personal initiative the Free Nation begun a period of prosperity and development, with a new social class composed mostly of artificers as the initiators of new discoveries. With technological advances came new relations, the Warforged, guided by their god of Artifice, moved toward Bloodstone Islands and joined the Free Nations in a mutual defense and trade alliance, even forming a small colony near to the Capital City. Studying warforged secrets the Artificers managed to create the first large ships of the Nation and an "Exploration Fleet", lead by Ambassador Vashen an elder priest of change and the Capital Ship Liberty was sent to explore the nearby contienent and to find the long lost humite ancestors of the Bloodsons. While the fleet was away a great social revolution stroke the Nations, with better condition of life, and due to the influence of Ipsur Exarch, Codex a new social class of lesser "lords", "princes", "master artificers" or just ambitious elders come into existence. This new class led to a fragmentation of the Free Nation society and the creation of many City States on the Bloodmyst Archipelago. The Priesthood of Change, capable of predicting and manipulating the social shifts created a new alliance between the cities, based on Freedomguard, the Free Nation Capital, Hegemony and their own control of common matters establishing a new national unity that made the Free Nations even stronger. While some of the leaders attempted to become tyrants none of them was capable of holding hid somain for much, having to fight with the freedom-loving and indipendent nature of the Bloodsons that did not change despite the social revolution. Territory, ---- The Free Nation is located in the Bloodmyst Archipelago, once composed only by a bunch of small islands it had grown in size to rival small continents. Using the bloodways and unstable bridges of land that some time form with the low tide the Free Nation have colonized a large portion of the archipelago, but still a lot of land remain free to be claimed. The hart of the Free Nation is Freedomguard, their capital city built on the first island to emerge from the seas, the city is situated inside a "forest" of Bloodstone pillars, massive spikes of crystalline Bloodstone that form high natural towers of strange shapes, many of this pillars have being carved by Freemen mansons and the red stone that compose most of the archipelago have being use to create impressive buildings, with strange and asymmetric geometries. The city shape is a little chaotic, as it is part of the design of many different "architects" as anyone was willing to plan his family household, his workshop or any kind of public building. There are many temples of change in the city, serviced by the priesthood and used also for administrative and government matters. These temples have being built by the bast craftsmen of the city with different styles and designs, usually carved in Bloodstone Crystals and with some raw Bloodstone included in the structure. The trading district have being built near the seas and it is host to a small warforged enclave, to the oceanic harbor, the arsenals and a temple of Change that house the Bloodways, a strange bloodstone device that allow to warp space and create temporary portal to distant land. The city is not surrounded by walls, but it count on the sea and its "vertical nature" as a way of defense, many bridges connect adjacent bloodstone spires and the roads to the upper part of the city can easily be blocked, the Bloodways are situated in high position on one of the Spires and its heavily guarded, small secret lookouts have being carved into the structure of most of the island pillars and are used to lay ambushes to invading enemies, the land itself is treacherous, as it keep slowly shifting and had many chasms, rivers, soft and muddy regions that usually pose unexpected surprises to would be invasion forces, as the normal laws of nature do not apply to bloodstone infused land only its inhabitants can properly navigate it. The city is surrounded by a lush forest of overgrowing vegetation, shifty and mutating as it feeds on bloodstone infused terrain, Freemen farmers harvest and guide the growth of this flora to nourish the city. There are many smaller cities, villages, and farms in the free nations, inhabited with many different races and using many different styles for their buildings, even if most keep using the "vertical style" of Freedomguard. People ---- Free Nation inhabitants, the Freemen or Bloodsons as they call themselves, are from many races, but have a strong social and racial mix and most of the union between people of different origin breed true here so hybrids are quite common here. A large amount of diversity in appearance is common among the Bloodsons and many unique mutation, some giving to the bearer access to supernatural abilities, are present among the freemen. Originally the nation was inhabited by humite, shandar kai and human ex slaves, but every race is welcome among the Freemen. Recently a group of warforged have settled into the islands too. Government and Law ---- The Free Nation is de facto ruled by the Priests of Change, that using "moral suasion" direct the overall politics of the nation, however their government usually leave the people to their own business, as personal freedom is one of the core belief in the nation. Only the larger scale operation, like the construction of Freedomguard, creation of political agreements with other nations or defense, that require coordination require a strong government involvement. The Nation is based upon a few principles that are enforced by the majority of the inhabitants and that form the core of their unity. "Personal freedom is everything, no one can be subjected to the commands of others, no one can become property by law or fact, everyone is free to act as he wishes as long as the freedom of others is not limited by these actions" While this principle is strongly enforced it is some times softened by the necessity for cooperation, however no leader in the free nation is considered superior to the ones he leads, and personal power is limited to the scope of specific actions and tasks. "Only the laws of the Free Nations apply into its territory" No foreign crime can be punished in Bloodstone Archipelago, slaves are set free and foreigners have to respect the principles and rules of the free nation only. The free nation do not have a proper police force or army, but it can count on a large number of people that are eager to defend it, forming some kind of militia when needed and enforcing the "principles" when needed, many bearers of "warlike" mutations are part of this militia, the Priesthood of Change and the Artificers are also ready to unleash their magic against the enemies of their people. After the Social Revolution the followed the introducion of Endir faith the Free Nation reorganized as an alliance of City States, with Freedomguard at its top. Every city has its own form of government, usually the council of elders a prince or a master artificers that deals with day to day activity and is also capable of emanating laws, as long as their leaders are strong enough to have them respected and undertake major initiatives and modification. For every matter that regards the Free Nation as a whole the Priesthood of Change and Freedomguard council of elders usually decide, listening to the most important City lords. While apparenlty a lot of infleunce moved from the Priesthood to new regional leaders real power is still strongly in the hand of the Changebringers, that most of the time hold more power than a city prince, as trusted advisors or due to having placed trusted individual in key roles within the militia, crafts and government of the City States. Technology ---- Reading\Writing, Agriculture, Blacksmithing, Priest Class, Artificer Class, (Spellscarred multiclass), Stone Masonry, Alchemy, Ritual Casting, Sailing. Artifacts: ---- Bloodways Pantheon: ---- Hensen, the Changer of Ways, (leading god in the Free Nation Pantheon), he is considered the father and benevolent protector of the Free Nations. Kiptar, Patron of Artifice, worshiped by the craftsmen and artificers. Endir, God of Ambition, an aspect of Ipsur. Encounters ---- Priest of Change High Shaper Warp Engineer Crazed Bloodson Bloodson Enforcer Work in Progress. Adventures ---- Work In Progress Nourishes: ---- 1 - Nourish (Beholder Slaves); 1 - Nourish Population: more slaves are free from the beholder influence.; 1 - Nourish (from Bloodstone), Most of the inhabitants of the Free Nation is affected by mutations (mechanically they become spellscarred); 1 - Nourish (from Bloodstones), the Free Nation population increase fed by the Bloodstone tainted vegetation of the archipelago; 1 - Nourish Free Nations, The Free Nation build their Capital City, Freedomguard on the spot where Hensen's vision guided them on the first Island of the Bloodstone Archipelago. With their increasing number they begin colonizing the new land masses using the Bloodways to travel between the islands. 1- Nourish (from Bloodstones), the Free nation birth rate and mutation rate rise, they build new cities to accommodate the growing population; 1 PP (from Bloodstone): Nourish the Free Nation population keep growing, and they colonize most of the Bloodstone Archipelago.